How to give oral antiboitics?

[spinachlove]

my cham recently got a small scab on his right hind foot, which i noticed when taking him to the vet. the vet recommended that i put an antibiotic cream on it twice a day for two weeks so it wouldn't get infected.

so i did that for about four days and then yesterday i saw that his foot was actually swollen. i called the vet to see if this was normal and he said it wasn't. he figured that my cham's foot was either irritated cos he tries to rub the cream off on anything he can cos it bothers him, or it's just already infected.

this led my vet to prescribe me an oral antibiotic instead to give once a day for two weeks. the only problem is that i can't get my cham's mouth open (he's a fischer chameleon so he's pretty small). the vet said that if i were to grab him, he would probably be upset and open his mouth, which would be the perfect time to put the medicine in his mouth.

i grabbed him today and he didn't open his mouth. i didn't want to hold him very tight cos i didn't want to hurt him. so no luck..BUT i realized that while he was drinking the water from the leaves, i could go ahead and squirt the medicine! and it worked! only problem is next time i do this, i don't know how long i would have to wait until the perfect moment when he's drinking water to give the medicine.

so does anyone have any experience with this and have any advice? it would be so greatly appreciated! thanks!

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

Many keepers are able to inject a feeder with the dose and quickly feed it to the chameleon. Supers, roaches, silkies and hornworms work pretty well while crickets are more problematic. Keep the chameleon on the hungry side for a quicker feeding response during treatment.

 

[Lancecham]

A lot of times when you pick up a cham, they naturally open their mouths. Great time to give the medication.

 

[kinyonga]

Glad you figured out how to get the meds into the chameleon!

I have to tell you though, generally if an abcess/infection is not cleaned out it won't go away. Also, cleaning out the abcess will give you "material" to use in a culture and sensitivity test to determine if the right antibiotic has been prescribed.

 

[renzo0684]

My cham is 2 months old and I need to give him oral meds. The cet told me the samething that he should open his mouth when I pick him up. Well my little guy doesnt open his mouth unless its to eat, and he also doesnt eat out of my hand. So the vet told me to have my fiance use her nail to open the chams mouth and then I give him is little drop. He gets kinda mad but then he is over it when I throw silkie in his cage

 

[nightcrawler]

My cham is 2 months old and I need to give him oral meds. The cet told me the samething that he should open his mouth when I pick him up. Well my little guy doesnt open his mouth unless its to eat, and he also doesnt eat out of my hand. So the vet told me to have my fiance use her nail to open the chams mouth and then I give him is little drop. He gets kinda mad but then he is over it when I throw silkie in his cage

A lot of people in this situation use rubber spatula. You know the kind to get all that good cake mix out of the bowl for eating as a snack after you put the majority into the pan. They use it to pry open the mouth, like your ladys fingernails, but because its rubber it wont harm the cham much.

I remember trying to give my cham oral meds. Was the worst time of my cham life. I think I was more stressed out then he was.

-Matt

 

[spinachlove]

thanks everyone for the advice! @ matt i feel the same way cos i feel i get more stressed than my cham since i worry about holding him the wrong way & possibly hurting him or injuring his mouth!

i think i'll stick with squirting the meds in his mouth while he's drinking water from the leaves cos it's what seems to work best for both of us! it looks like his swelling has gone down so hopefully after 2 wks of antibiotics he'll be just fine

thanks again all! this forum is SO great and SO helpful!

 

[nightcrawler]

thanks everyone for the advice! @ matt i feel the same way cos i feel i get more stressed than my cham since i worry about holding him the wrong way & possibly hurting him or injuring his mouth!

i think i'll stick with squirting the meds in his mouth while he's drinking water from the leaves cos it's what seems to work best for both of us! it looks like his swelling has gone down so hopefully after 2 wks of antibiotics he'll be just fine

thanks again all! this forum is SO great and SO helpful!

Yea holding him is pretty stressful. I had to hold him and open his mouth while my lady squirted the stuff in his mouth.

Keep us updated on his progress.

 

[ashrules]

my baby veiled was tiny tiny..and had a URI.. i got prescriped baytril and gott old to orally giv it him 1 a day fir 7 days...

gettin him to open his mouth was so hard..and had a few days frustration!!!
eventruly i used to just hold the syringe in front of him with a dropletof it at the end for 10-15 mins at a a time (like watching paint dry i know)

after a few days of this...he eventruly started to take from the syringe ( thinkin it was a water droplet)....he put his mouth round the end..so i squirt quickly....needless to say she runs off immedietly...but it was a result...and sum how he never did learn wat i was doing..lol day after did the same...day after, same.. etc etc etc.

his URI dissapeared very quickly

hope this helps

 

[spinachlove]

my baby veiled was tiny tiny..and had a URI.. i got prescriped baytril and gott old to orally giv it him 1 a day fir 7 days...

gettin him to open his mouth was so hard..and had a few days frustration!!!
eventruly i used to just hold the syringe in front of him with a dropletof it at the end for 10-15 mins at a a time (like watching paint dry i know)

after a few days of this...he eventruly started to take from the syringe ( thinkin it was a water droplet)....he put his mouth round the end..so i squirt quickly....needless to say she runs off immedietly...but it was a result...and sum how he never did learn wat i was doing..lol day after did the same...day after, same.. etc etc etc.

his URI dissapeared very quickly

hope this helps

thanks so much for the advice!! i found this out just yesterday by accident. cos a drop got on his mouth and then he licked it off prob thinking what the heck is this on my lips? so he kept opening it and it was easy from there

i'll keep you all updated on his progress!

btw what's a URI?